When Gary U.S. Bonds recorded “New Orleans,” his breakout hit from 1960, he’d never been to New Orleans. Nonetheless, the young singer from Norfolk, Virginia, reshaped “New Orleans,” a song originally written in a country and western vein, into a heart-pounding rock ‘n’ roll classic.

Born Gary Anderson in Jacksonville, Florida, Bonds moved to Norfolk with his mother and grandmother when he was 3. Although his music-teacher mom taught classical piano, she loved twentieth-century rhythm and ...